Source HR agrees to restore more than $24,000 to welfare benefit plans in Clarkston, Mich.

Date of Action: Jan. 4, 2013

Type of Action: Consent order and judgment

Names of Defendants: Source HR, LLC and Austin R. Ritter

Judgment: Source HR, LLC has agreed to restore a total of $24,062.25 to the Source HR Employee Welfare Benefit Plan and to employee welfare benefit plans administered by Source HR.  The consent order and judgment resolves a lawsuit filed by the US Labor Department based on the findings of an investigation by the department’s Employee Benefits Security Administration.

The complaint alleged that Austin Ritter, the president and sole owner of Source HR, committed fiduciary breaches by earning insurance commission income from insurance carriers providing coverage to the Plans in violation of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act. 

The consent order and judgment finds Source HR and Ritter liable to the plans in the amount of $24,062.25, representing $20,784.47 in insurance commissions owed to the plans and $3,277.78 in lost opportunity costs, and orders Source HR to restore these losses.  Additionally, Source HR and Ritter have been permanently barred from serving as fiduciaries or service providers to any employee benefit plan subject to ERISA.

The plans had 28 participants during the period of May 1, 2007, through March 20, 2011, and provided benefits under U.S. Health & Life Insurance Company and Liberty Union Life Assurance Company.  The case was litigated by the Labor Department’s Regional Office of the Solicitor in Chicago.

Court: United States District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan, Detroit

Docket Number: 2:12-cv-12374

Employers and workers can reach EBSA toll-free at 866-444-3272 for help with problems related to private sector retirement and health plans.  Additional information can be found at www.dol.gov/ebsa.

U.S. Department of Labor materials are accessible at www.dol.gov.  The information above is available in large print, Braille, audio tape or disc from the COAST office upon request by calling 202-693-7828 or TTY 202-693-7755.